Arrests of Afghan immigrants have ramped up nationwide after an Afghan national was charged with killing a National Guard officer and critically wounding another in Washington, D.C. in November.
In Sacramento, an Afghan immigrant, whom we’re going to call Fatima to protect her identity, fears her family could be forced back to a country she says wants them dead.
“They killed my dad. My brother [has been] in custody for over 4 years now. They burned our house,” Fatima said. “For the Taliban, if you work for the U.S., you are infidel. So we are infidels.”
According to Fatima, she and her husband and their two young children immigrated to the U.S. earlier this year to escape Taliban persecution. But on Monday, she says immigration officers arrested her husband during a check-in. He now faces possible deportation.
“There is no way we can be returned to our country and be safe,” Fatima said. “As soon as we get there we will be killed.”
Giselle Garcia with NorCal Resist says her nonprofit is looking for an attorney for the family. Congresswoman Doris Matsui has pledged to support them.
Matsui held a press conference Friday in response to the increased ICE presence in Sacramento and the arrest of Fatima’s husband.
“That raises serious concerns for their safety and their constitutional rights,” Matsui said standing in front of the John Moss Federal building, which has an immigration court located inside. “This is not about partisan politics. This is about people, human beings, our neighbors, families who came to this country seeking safety.”
Matsui expressed fears that history is repeating itself, and that as a Japanese-American, she’s familiar with the signs.
“120,000 Japanese Americans were taken into internment camps. My family, my grandparents, my parents, my uncles, my aunts,” Matsui said. “And we see it happening again.”
Garcia from NorCal Resist said that ICE has not only targeted people at the federal building or courthouses, but also coming into Afghan communities.
“ICE agents visited several predominantly Afghan apartment complexes at the Arden-Arcade area, terrorizing the community, even threatening a woman and her young child that they would come back,” Garcia said. “Each detainment of our Afghan neighbors weakens the social fabric of our city.”
According to Garcia, when she accompanied Fatima’s husband to an appointment at the Moss Federal building on Monday, she knew that the father of two would likely be detained.
“Our government was forcing this beautiful family to walk into a trap, and that we were driving them to their demise,” Garcia said. “I can still hear the clicking of the handcuffs tightening… I can still hear the sobs of his wife as she saw us return without her husband.”
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